IF his selection ahead of Finn Russell as Glasgow’s play-maker could be seen as exploratory last weekend there seemed something more significant yesterday about Peter Horne’s retention of the No 10 jersey as his side heads into the first of the festive derbies looking to protect their season-long perfect winning record in the Pro14.
Coach Dave Rennie was eager to make it clear that he has not made a decision for the remainder of what is Russell’s last season at the club before his move to France in the summer. However, he also said it had not been hard to stick with a player he sees as capable of filling the breach once Scotland’s current stand off moves on.
“I am just trying to reward performance,” claimed Rennie.“We were happy with Pete’s 60 minutes. He controlled the game very well. He did everything we asked of him so we want to reward that. We have no perception about Peter being in the starting team from now on either. It is not even so much about looking at just this game. We are fortunate we have got two men who play well in that position. Both will play some part against Edinburgh.”
If Glasgow can set this game up as they intend to in its opening hour there is little doubt that a fresh Russell has the capacity to take advantage of being up against tiring defenders in Murrayfield’s wide open spaces.
“I was really happy last week with Finn when the game broke up,” Rennie observed.“He was able to put a lot of people in space around him as we know he can do. When he comes into the game we haven’t really thought too much about.”
While there is more at stake than in Montpellier last week when Glasgow were already out of contention for qualification for the European quarter-finals, there was no shortage of intensity in that encounter.
“Statistically it might have been a dead rubber but we took a pretty good side over there and played against a very good Montpellier side and probably left three or four tries out on the park. We should have got a result last week,” Rennie asserted. “From that perspective we were very pleased at the way Pete controlled the game and that is why he gets another crack.”
That observation is offered context by his criticism, over the previous couple of weeks, of his team failing to get the balance right, either by playing too tightly or too openly.
“The blend was good, especially in the first half,” he said of the Montpellier performance. “We took them on through the middle but did not overdo that, nor did we go wide wide all day. Edinburgh will be no different. We have to paint a picture that we have to commit some numbers but we have to be prepared to play at the same time.”
How Russell might react to the possible impression that he is being marginalised after announcing his departure could offer cause for concern, but Rennie said the 25-year-old had been thoroughly professional.
“He was great,” said the coach.“He understands the thinking. We have said from the start we want to reward performances. Just look at someone like George Horne who has been getting cracks in ahead of Henry (Pyrgos) who is an international half-back and we have done that in a number of positions.”
Glasgow have been forced into another change in terms of on-field decision making with club captain Ryan Wilson failing to recover from the ankle injury suffered in France. The captaincy is, however, reclaimed by a familiar figure in the role and one who may have some extra incentive since Jonny Gray’s last act as Warriors captain was picking up the 1872 Challenge Cup despite his side having been well beaten by Edinburgh in the second leg.
Rennie noted that Gray had been out injured when he had to decide who would lead the side into the new season and was effusive in expressing his admiration of the Scotland lock.
“Jonny’s a special man considering the amount of times he’s played for this club and his country for a 23 year old,” the coach said.
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